Lehfeldt/Sellerhoff 1 OPEN SERVICES FOR HYDROENGINEERING TASKS

Open services for hydroengineering tasks provide a practical environment for collaborative engineering via the internet. Cross-platform software development in Java implements a 4-tier client-server concept of data storage, search mechanisms based on standard meta data, software tools for analysis and simulation, and multi media components for presentation. Open services combine the management of thematic maps and time dependent information at specific locations in a single 4D-GIS interface. It serves the needs of expert and non-expert users concerned with coastal zone management. The fundamental data structures of the underlying information model are the point, the point set and the meta information associated with a point set. The implementation of point based structures creates an object-oriented model of high modularity where simple and versatile components are reused at several levels of the chosen architecture. Spatial analysis is a key issue in coastal zone management. The integration of an automatic grid generator, a graphical grid editor, and additional methods for detection of ridges and channel structures enhances the functionality found in typical 3D-GIS systems. Examples of recurrent tasks concerning data processing for numerical modeling and visualization techniques in coastal engineering are presented which show the interactive analysis of digital elevation models